Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011 (Blog Event)

Welcome to the first day of a FIVE day event! Today kicks off Top 10 of 2011. Last year Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic and I posted our Top 10 Posts during this same week. We had such a great time with our lists that we asked a couple of our blogging friends to help us out - Rachel from Fiktshun and Jamie & Patricia from Two Chicks on Books and made an event about it! We're excited to see how many people have signed up and we can't wait to read YOUR lists. Speaking of.... here's my Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011.

Title: Divergent (Divergent, #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books, 487 Pages (May 3rd 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - Tris & Four... and the amazing story and writing and SO much more make this one of the best books I've read since the Hunger Games Trilogy.

Synopsis: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Title: Hourglass (Hourglass, #1)
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont, 400 Pages (June 14th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - Love the cover, loved the story... hands down an incredible book.

Synopsis: One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past. Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little Brown, 288 Pages (June 7th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - The magnetic pull and love between London & Luke on top of all that London has to go through with the added bonus of a mystery made this a book I just couldn't get enough of. (I wish there would/could be a sequel)

Synopsis: Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Title: Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1)
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen, 487 Pages (May 31st, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - Thrilling and beautiful with just enough mythology to make this another favorite for me this year.

Synopsis: How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Title: Ashfall (Ashfall, #1)
Author: Mike Mullin
Publisher: Tanglewood Press, 466 Pages (October 11th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - I didn't know what to expect going into this title, but once you start reading there's just no putting it down - book two... bring it on! (The sooner the better, please & Thank you)

Synopsis: Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget.

Title: The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 361 Pages (October 25th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - An Iron Fey story from Ash's point of view... need I say more?

Synopsis: Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Title: Blood Red Road (Dustlands, #1)
Author: Moira Young
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry, 495 Pages (June 5th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - An addictive story filled with interesting characters that'll hold on and not let go, but not to worry, you won't want them to.

Synopsis: Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill, 398 Pages (January 11th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - Science fiction of a thrilling, mysterious & romantic kind - just a few words that come to mind.

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton, 338 Pages (September 29th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - Stephanie Perkins is one of the rock stars of contemporary YA - she writes it, I'll read it.

Synopsis: Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Title: After Obsession
Author: Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 320 Pages (September 13th, 2011)
My Review

Why I loved it, in a sentence - It's creepy, scary and dangerously addictive - I couldn't get enough of Aimee & Alan and wish there was more to look forward too. (Maybe? Maybe not?)

Synopsis: Aimee and Alan have secrets. Both teens have unusual pasts and abilities they prefer to keep hidden. But when they meet each other, in a cold Maine town, they can't stop their secrets from spilling out. Strange things have been happening lately, and they both feel that something-or someone- is haunting them. They're wrong. Despite their unusual history and powers, it's neither Aimee nor Alan who is truly haunted. It's Alan's cousin Courtney who, in a desperate plea to find her missing father, has invited a demon into her life-and into her body. Only together can Aimee and Alan exorcise the ghost. And they have to move quickly, before it devours not just Courtney but everything around her.

Honorable Mentions: Blood Magic By: Tessa Gratton, Beauty Queens By: Libba Bray, Shadowspell By: Jenna Black, Wither By: Lauren DeStafano, Darkness Becomes Her By: Kelly Keaton and Betrayal By: Lee Nichols... just to name a few.

Tomorrow's Topic - Top 10 Book Covers of 2011

Don't forget to link each day! Signing up & then linking your Top 10 posts early you EXTRA entries into the $50.00 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. The last day to share your posts is January 8th, 2012. The winner will be picked using Random.org and announced during the week of the 9th, 2012. Good Luck!

NOTE: This is the SAME Linky on each of the Co-Hosts Blogs, so please only enter your Name, Blog Name and URL or YOUR Top 10 post of the day on one blog. Thanks!

*Titles listed are in no particular order.